Word Of The Day

I love October. I love Halloween. It's my favourite time of the year. It's a time when people can dress up and be creative, let loose their inner child. And for actual children, a nice swag of candy. It's also the time when TV stations play science fiction and fantasy films.

I recall there were a lot more independent stations when I was growing up. Now every station seems to be owned by some national broadcaster. That's progress, I guess. But I remember waiting for the weekend and for Sci-Fi Theatre on noon Sundays. They showed old time movies from the 50's and 60's, and maybe it's because I wasn't around at that time, but that added the mystical and unreal aspects of those films. Sci Fi Theatre introduced me to Godzilla, Hammer Horror and Roger Corman.

Times change, and I moved on. Literally. I moved to another part of the country. There was no equivalent to Sci Fi Theatre in my new home. I caught old time movies where I could, but they became fewer as the years passed on.

These days we have channels dedicated to science fiction and fantasy, namely Syfy in the United States, and Space in Canada. But it's not the same. Maybe it's budget issues, maybe copyright issues, or even a lack of overall interest, but there generally hasn't been any old time genre entertainment on those channels.

Sure, Syfy throws out it's latest mutant shark installment every other week, but it's not the same. Like I said earlier, those old time movies had a certain charm and atmosphere, even the cheap ones, but the new made for cable movies seem to lack style or zest or an overall sense of fun at even the corniest stuff. Maybe it's the cinematography that I find dull. Maybe the camera angles and editing. I donno. It's not like the quality of B movie writing or acting has evolved over the past 60+ years in cheesy films.

But at least they're being made, so maybe 50 years from now some kid's gonna look back on October 31 and reminisce about Sharknado 18.